“Blue Vietnamese Sea”, a marine environment protection campaign, was launched at an event on Hai Tien beach in Hoang Hoa district, the central province of Thanh Hoa, on May 24.

Officials of local authorities and more than 1,000 young people joined in a clean-up on Hai Tien beach after the launching ceremony.

“Blue Vietnamese Sea” is taking place in five central localities, namely Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces and Da Nang city from May 18 to 26.

It is organised by the Secretariat of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) Central Committee, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Joint Stock Corporation.

The campaign aims to call on people, especially the young, and organisations to join hands in cleaning up the sea, thereby raising public awareness of the importance of protecting the marine environment.

It is also meant to encourage young people to support the Party and State’s policies on building new-style rural areas and civilized urban areas in Thanh Hoa.

Hoang Van Thanh, Deputy Secretary of the HCYU Committee of Thanh Hoa, said the province, home to a 102km-long coastline and many famous beaches, have organised a number of campaigns over the past years to clean up beaches and plant submerged forests.

Local HCYU committees will increase environment-themed communications and organise more beach clean-ups across the province in the coming time, he added.

According to the Institute for Tourism Development Research under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam is home to over 1 million sq.km of sea water surface, more than 2,770 islands and a number of beautiful beaches from the north to the south.